Excavation!
Anth 130
September 11, 2014
Excavation
• The exposure, processing and recording of
archaeological remains
• Yields the most reliable evidence of the two
main types of information that archaeologists
are looking at: human activity at a certain time
and changes in that activity
• Contemporary activities take place
horizontally and changes occur vertically
through time (sometimes)
Archaeologists must understand what
natural and cultural processes are in
action when excavating a site…why?
Stratigraph
• Layers of strata are laid down according to a
process that still continues
• Archaeologists use strata-cultural and natural
layers made up over time-which are created over
a much shorter time than the geological ones
• Follow the law of superposition: where one layer
overlies another, the lower was deposited first
*refers only to the sequence of deposits not the age
of the deposits
Sometimes Strata become intreverted
or mixed up…
• Archaeologists use pieces of bone, flakes or
pottery to test if layers are related…if the
pieces from two layers fit together then they
are not actually separate cultural layers
Excavation Methods
• Its much better to go out and dig then just
read about it…
But sense we can’t do that lets just talk
about it!
All methods must adapt to the
research question at hand…there are
lots of different excavation methods
Two Techniques
• Emphasizes vertical dimensions, cutting into
deep deposits to reveal stratification
• Horizontal dimensions by opening up large
areas of a particular layer
First step…
• Lay out your grid!
• A point is picked within the site (the datum)
and all other points are measured from this
point
So maybe don’t lay out a grid…
• Open-area Excavation
• Very effective with single period deposit sites
• Only cut vertical sections where they are
needed to figure out difficult stratigraphic
relationships
Recording
• Every artifacts 3D location within the site
needs to be recorded….when that is possible
(which is pretty much never)
When artifacts are found in situ and it
is possible to record their position
archaeologists do….
• Large finds will be mapped using GIS methods
or by hand when found on a site
• Their trench, strata, level, association and
provenience must be recorded
• They will also be photographed throughout
the excavation processes
• Each object will be given a number and
entered into a field journal or field computer
Features
• Features usually must be left where they
are….
• It is important to fully record them in field
journals for later analysis as they maybe
destroyed as the excavation continues
vertically
• Photographs and scaled drawings help to
insure accurate accounts for later analysis
What about all that dirt?
• Screening (or sieving) is used to find small
artifacts that may go unnoticed
• Beads, bones, plant remains etc.
• Wet vs. Dry screening will depend on what
you are looking for
So you have all these artifacts…now
what?
• Getting objects out of the ground is only part
of the excavation process…
Cleaning artifacts
• Nothing is more fun then scrubbing dirt of
pottery!
• Depending on the types of artifacts you are
excavating different methods will need to be
in place for cleaning, storing and conserving
artifacts within the field
Next comes sorting
• First objects are sorted into broad categoriespottery, metal, stone tools etc
• These categories are then subdivided based
on three types of characteristics known as
attributes
– Surface Attributes
– Shape Attributes
– Technological Attributes
Typology
• Artifacts with similar attributes are grouped
together into artifact types….creating a
typology
• Helps archaeologists to create order
Assemblages
• Groups of artifact types (or typologies) that
are from the same time and place
Archaeological Cultures
• A group of assemblages relating to one group
of people
• Does an archaeological culture=an actual
culture from the past?
Underwater Archaeology
• Uses a lot of the same techniques!
• Just under water
• Still use grid systems, record everything,
clean/conserve artifacts, classify and interpret
the remains
• It is VERY expensive
These are all artificial constructs to help
archaeologists put order to the disorderly
remains of the past
They should not determine the way we think
about the past!
Depending on your research question
classification might be different….
Publication
The last step!